Let’s be real - the life of an entrepreneur is full of ups and downs.

Your launches don’t always take off as you hope, you don’t always meet your revenue goals, and a thousand other little things on a daily basis don’t always go your way.

But there’s a difference between being a six-figure entrepreneur and a multi-six/seven figure entrepreneur, and it all comes down to the fitness (and finesse!) of your brain.

In today’s new post, I’m sharing some subtle mental shifts you can make to train your brain and build habits that lead to far greater success.

Read on to learn how to create a positive mental domino effect of endless opportunities.

It all starts with choosing gratitude…

Today, I'm going to be talking to you about a shift that I made in my business - well, really in my mind - that helped me go from six figures to multiple six figures. And this shift is all about your mentality, your way of thinking. It's not about how smart you are. It's about what you're thinking and what your mind circles back to. In other words, your core beliefs.

Here’s a personal story to illustrate what I'm talking about. Back in January, I got the virus, then I got a secondary infection. And then, on top of that, I discovered I was allergic to the antibiotic that I was given. It was a series of events that kept me off my feet, in bed, sick, and feeling icky for about three weeks.

If you've had the virus or the flu and you've been unable to work or show up for your life as you normally do, you understand that it’s pretty much one of the worst feelings on the planet. And believe me - I experienced all of those emotions. But you know what? I'm really grateful that it all happened.

Most people look at me like I’m crazy when I say that. I get it. I’m human and fully felt how much being sick sucked. However, I’m grateful because I believe that being sick was all a part of the master plan. Whatever you believe in - God, the Universe, or some other higher power - something wanted me to take this break. Perhaps I was being forced into resting and recovering when I didn’t even realize I needed it. Perhaps I was being protected from something bigger down the road. There are a million different scenarios that I can think of as to why this potentially happened. I don’t know. But I am choosing to be grateful.

Being grateful is a choice.

How many times have you found yourself in a situation where you, too, have made the same choice? In the life of an entrepreneur, there are plenty of ups and downs. When you hit those inevitable downs, how do you choose to view them? Do you focus on the gratitude, or do you tend to focus on all the things you can lament?

Here’s the thing: when you focus on the negative, you zoom in on the problems and get stuck in that space. When you focus on the gratitude, you zoom out on the possibilities and what you need to do to get through your situation. It’s a whole different kind of recovery when you hit those roadblocks.

Your mentality is a muscle that you carry with you.

Your mentality is a muscle that you can strengthen over time with reps, just like you would at the gym with the muscles in your body. You can train your brain to get stronger, in much the same way.

This is one of the tricks/ hacks that I've adopted. Whenever I find myself off about whatever the situation is - let's say a launch doesn't go my way, or I don't get the really big sale that I wanted, or a client decides to go with someone else - whatever it may be, I’ve trained my brain to search for the good.

Yes, you CAN train your brain to consistently search for the good in any situation.

This is something I do with my stepdaughter, with my clients, and with basically everyone in my life. When people come to me with a crappy situation they’re facing, after acknowledging that it truly does suck, I always ask, “Is there anything good? Is there anything positive that you can see in this?”

I realize this seems annoying, but the reality is that finding the good is something that takes practice before it becomes a habit. You’ve got to train that muscle with repetition.

Teaching yourself to recover more quickly

Looking for the good isn’t about not allowing yourself to have negative feelings. We all get angry, frustrated, and sad at times. But the difference between a six figure business owner and a multi-six/seven figure business owner that I've seen is the time it takes them to recover. They have taught themselves to bounce back from strife more quickly.

Every single time you choose to search for the good, zoom out, and see the possibilities, you’re learning how to recover better and faster. So that means that the next time something goes wrong in your business, you've gained the tools, strategies, and knowledge you need to recover and make shifts that allow you to move forward more quickly.

Problems in business are an unavoidable reality. Being successful in business requires teaching yourself how to deal with them from a regulated place of calm. When you stay calm, you're able to see other opportunities and solutions. Whereas on the flip side, when you get worked up and your body goes into fight or flight, your mind is closed to opportunities and you’re unable to see beyond your current situation. When you get yourself worked up and you're off kilter, you're actually bringing more attention and focus to the very thing you don't want. And what you focus on creates your reality.

Maintaining a regulated nervous system is an everyday practice

If possible, you want to focus on regulating your nervous system through things like breathwork, yoga, and meditation (or anything that grounds you) on a daily basis to make creating a sense of peace and calm in your body a habit. This way, when something doesn't go your way, your body knows exactly how to respond to it. It knows how to breathe into it to remain calm.

The life of an entrepreneur can be a bit of a topsy turvy ride. Teaching yourself to ride the waves by breathing in calm, rather than holding in your breath as your body tends to do when you’re upset, can be transformative - for both everyday issues to major life-changing events.

Find the blessing

I want you to think of something that happened in your business that you weren’t happy about. It could be a failed launch, or a lost client, or an employee leaving - choose something that you remember being upset about. Then, ask yourself, What were the unexpected blessings that came out of that situation?

There is always a blessing, if you look for it. Life is working in your favor, always.

When you begin to activate your reticular activating system, you begin to train your brain to search for the good, and it eventually becomes a habit. When you search for the good, you can still feel whatever the feels are in a negative situation, but it allows you to also stay calm and grateful, which is a very different state than when you get all worked up. When you can cultivate that state of calm, that’s where you can find the endless opportunities that are before you.

Looking for the good creates a domino effect in your brain and in your life. Once you begin to see the opportunities whenever you’re faced with opposition, those opportunities will naturally lead to more opportunities. That's the positive domino effect that I challenge you to create.